News

All power to women in El Salvador?

By: Clara, Frederick

The school aims to give women a voice within cooperatives, so they can take up leading positions within these umbrella organizations.

In El Salvador women make up only 20% of all decision-making bodies. To make women crucial in economics and politics is no picnic. Especially in the cooperative sector the proportion of women raises some questions. Official posts within these umbrella organizations are mostly occupied by men, so there is still talk of bastions of male privilege.

That is why the Red de Unión de Mujeres (RUM), Trias-partner, has founded the School for Women in Cooperatives, for which it teamed up with sister organizations. This school is to ensure that women gain access to cooperatives, take up important positions and understand why their role in cooperatives is crucial.

"The ultimate goal of the school is to give women a voice within cooperatives ", says RUM. "The school must bring attention to inequality between men and women and ensure that those women’s problems are addressed and analyzed, thus paving the way for equal conditions and opportunities for men and women. We mean to make real leaders out of women, at the local level as well as the regional level."

"The school is in fact a training programme", explains Clara Escamilla, Trias adviser in El Salvador. "Lessons take place in RUM headquarters. But they still need to be passed on to the communities where the participating women live. The curriculum comprises a module that turns students into teachers. In this way knowledge and skills involving cooperativism are spread within our intervention areas."

The curriculum includes five courses that give women insight into awareness and the different aspects of cooperatives. During the first three courses, the participants talk about self-esteem, gender and identity, leadership, conflict handling, cooperative principles and values, cooperative role and functions, legal frameworks, business management and human rights. During the last two, participants are trained to pass their knowledge, through topics like training methodology, team work, assertive communication, research techniques and writing reports.

"This approach not only guarantees a change of attitude of and towards women,” Escamilla continues, “but also ensures that institutions are reformed and take on a more women-friendly policy.”

Twenty-five women have registered for the first training programme and have completed the first course. They are all very satisfied with the lessons, especially because they never had an opportunity to take a course like this. At the end of January some of the participants will attend a conference on cooperatives in Central America, where they will share experience with other cooperative leaders.

The second course is about passing knowledge, both internally, to other RUM members, and externally. Carolina Quintanilla has just received her first curriculum: "I was extremely satisfied and immediately suggested sharing my knowledge with other Trias partners in El Salvador, like CCA and Redga."

In El Salvador machismo is still ubiquitous and one of the causes of women oppression. Women are often treated as inferior and exposed to violence. That is why women don’t dare to stand up for their rights and don’t develop their talents. Through this School for Women in Cooperatives, RUM and Trias wish to address the situation in their intervention area.